TWILIGHT: The Saga and the Symbolsim

Analyzing two video clips.

This clip from the movie New Moon shows Jacob, who is a "werewolf" protecting Bella from another werewolf. The way which the movie portrays werewolves is that they are people's minds inside of a wolves body, which is very different that the way movies such as Harry Potter portray werewolves as being unable to control themselves and completely controlled by animal instinct. Werewolves are portrayed as being extremely attractive and beautiful creatures in this movie. It also makes it seem as if Bella cannot take care of herself.* This whole movie portrays bad stereotypes of women. Girls are constantly needing protection from things in these movies. It makes it seem as if women cannot take care of themselves. The modern portrayal of a werewolf is one of a cute and fuzzy animal, more like an actual wolf. There is no fear associated with them.

In this clip of Breaking Dawn in the Twilight series, werewolves are portrayed as having a supernatural element to them. They can all communicate over long distances through their minds and they all share each other's memories.* The werewolves in this video follow the symbolism of the different colors that were previously mentioned. Lighter wolves seemed to have a personality of being more innocent and pure while the darker wolves seemed to be more evil and bad. The howling that the werewolves do in this video is very reflective of how actual wolves use howling. All of the wolves use howling to find each other. Though these wolves are considered werewolves, they act very much like actual wolves due. The growling and ear movements in the video portray how actual wolves would show emotion. The whole werewolf pack act as almost one unit and at one point can be heard speaking in unison. The animal-like quality of these wolves is played up in this part of the movie more than any other. This shows how the modern idea of a werewolf speaks more of the true nature of wolves that scientists have taught us.*